MODE AND MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE IN PRECOLONIAL ESANLAND, EDO STATE, NIGERIA UP TO 1900: EVIDENCE OF A DEVELOPED MARKET ECONOMY

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to examine the mode and medium of exchange that developed among Esan people of the present Edo state which attracted people from other countries and near to its borders. Without doubt trade during this period was the result of surplus production of which various media of exchange were adopted and developed. This debunks and discredits the myth of a purely “subsistence economy” that was for some time used to characterize the economy of Esan people. The paper also focuses on the various economic production activities as a background against which these modes and media of exchange were necessitated prior to 1900.